Public protector must investigate dodgy legal adviser Paul Ngobeni

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will ask the public protector to investigate the appointment of Paul Ngobeni as legal adviser to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu.

The weekend press reported today that Paul Ngobeni, who was recently appointed as the legal adviser to Lindiwe Sisulu, was a fugitive from justice in Connecticut in the United States. Connecticut's criminal justice division communications officer Mark Dupuis reportedly confirmed that Ngobeni was a fugitive from justice and was facing charges of larceny which boiled down to improperly charging people for legal advice (see report).

Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu made a serious error of judgement in appointing Paul Ngobeni. The problem is now being compounded: no action has been taken to investigate and dismiss Ngobeni. Lindiwe Sisulu is prepared to take tough action to dismiss soldiers, but is not prepared to take tough action to dismiss Paul Ngobeni.

What we need is a full and independent investigation into how it was that a fugitive from justice receives a security clearance after being vetted by the intelligence services and was then appointment as a legal adviser to minister of defence and military veterans Lindiwe Sisulu.

The DA will therefore ask the public protector to investigate all aspects of the appointment of Paul Ngobeni.

Statement issued by David Maynier, MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of defence and military veterans, September 13 2009

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